We are turning our backs on our humanity to hide behind codes or replace ourselves with beasts. A phenomenon of "double replacement," a boycott against our own nature, a search for meaning. The answer lies neither in technology nor in instinct, but in the crown the Creator bestowed upon us.
What began as a playful novelty—like TikTok filters used with impunity and exaggeration—has evolved in just a few years into the standard for presentation in the digital ecosystem. With the advancement of algorithms and Artificial Intelligence (AI), we have converged toward the creation of "perfect" images, to the point of an alarming depersonalization. Today, many people are difficult to recognize in the world of real interaction: they are not who they are, but rather what they have constructed of themselves in their digital version and what others have chosen to believe. The Therian phenomenon is no stranger to this logic; it is people depersonalizing themselves.
This process has been silent and, paradoxically, we have assimilated it as "natural," coming to naturalize what is essentially unnatural. An ironic tragedy: we use the latest technology to scream to the world that we are not content with our own humanity. It is here that the central paradox arises: we criticize technology because it dehumanizes us, but we are the ones using it as a tool to strip ourselves of our identity and become a digital simulacrum.
It is painful to see people in our environment who do not want to see themselves as they are, but only what they project; they sink into masks and fictitious attire, into images of who they can never be. We have settled in to live complacently with paradoxes that are consuming us... and the wheel keeps turning.
The Tendency of Not Wanting to Be
Psychologist Martín Smud, referring to Therians, noted: “It is more of a technological issue,” underlining that the phenomenon expands through digital viralization. I take up that premise in another sense, to affirm that this movement responds to technology precisely because of its dehumanizing tendency. Could it be that the current trend is pushing us to not dare to be human, or worse, to not want to be?
This is being categorized under terms like 'species dysphoria'—a disconnection between perceived identity and biological form. We must read this as a symptom of ontological orphanage. The study published in ScienceDirect (2025) on self-perception and neuroscience warns us that we are facing a reconfiguration of human identity mediated by trauma and technology.
Are we voluntarily renouncing our essence? If AI is a brain without a soul and animal instinct is a body without reason... what is left of us? We are becoming tenants of an identity that does not belong to us.
That ontological orphanage—the lack of meaning for one's own existence—is a feeling of very deep loneliness; it is an emotion of uprooting that atrophies the senses. It is living as foreigners continuously in places without belonging; it is falling without having anywhere to hold on to prevent it; it is the loss of absolute certainties. It is crossing the threshold of emotional vulnerability. Is this not the absence of God?
The Answer in the Crown
Thousands of years ago, the Psalmist looked at the sky and asked the same question that strikes terror into humanity today, but he did so from a perspective of dignity, not emotional escapism:
"What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour." (Psalms 8:4-5)
We live in a system that tries to replace us with codes, with artificial intelligence and algorithms. At the same time, the anxieties inherent in our condition lead us to seek refuge in the idea of being an animal trapped in a human body. But the Bible affirms something radically different: God has crowned us with glory and honor.
The human being is not a biological error to be "corrected" by AI, nor a failed species that must mutate toward the wild to find peace. To be human is to occupy a place that is sacred, uncomfortable, and glorious all at once.
C.S. Lewis wrote in 'The Abolition of Man' about a future where the attempt to conquer nature through technique would end up annihilating the very essence of the human being. Lewis called it the "final step" or the "step into the void": when man surrenders and becomes an object, whether a technological gear or a purposeless beast. We are there: at the point where the original design is seen as a limitation that must be hacked or abandoned, or as Lewis exposes in his book: “Man’s final conquest has proved to be the abolition of Man.”
The True Resistance
Today, true rebellion does not consist of identifying as a wolf nor in being an expert in prompts. The true rebellion is to reclaim the spirit. AI can process, but it cannot love. The animal can feel, but it cannot transcend.
From the insurrection of those of us who refuse to accept these false premises, we launch the final challenge: Who still dares to be human? Who has the courage to assume the identity the Creator bestowed upon them? In a world of digital masks and instincts in flight... who dares, simply, to be?
References and Further Reading
Journalism: La Nación (2026) – Therian: The suffering behind the viral phenomenon. [Link]
Scientific Research: ScienceDirect (2025) – Clinical Lycanthropy and Species Dysphoria: A neurobiological perspective. [Link]
Philosophy: Lewis, C.S. – The Abolition of Man. (A classic recommendation on technical dehumanization and the loss of the human essence).
Local Media / Expert Interview: Radio Dos (2026) – The Therian phenomenon as a technological issue. Interview with Psychologist Martín Smud. [Link]
About the Author
Carlos Samuel Mansilla is a speaker and specialist in leadership and organizational development. He serves as the Senior Pastor of Casa Bíblica Argentina and is a prominent voice in the dialogue between Faith, Ethics, and Technology. His work focuses on the preservation of human values in the face of the challenges posed by Artificial Intelligence and digital transformation.
Originally published in Spanish at www.carlossamuelmansilla.com.
By Carlos Samuel Mansilla
Senior Pastor: CASA BÍBLICA ARGENTINA
Instagram: @carlossamuelmansilla
www.carlossamuelmansilla.com
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